Mode of preparing bank-notes to prevent counterfeiting



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEO. 'l. JONES, on CINCINNATI, onro.

MODE 0F PREPARING BANK-NOTES TO PREVENT COUNTERFEITING.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 54,835, dated May 15,1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE T. J ones, of Cincinnati, in the county ofHamilton and State of Ohio, have made new and useful Improvements in theMode of Preparing Bank- Notes, Bonds, 860., to Prevent Counterfeiting;and I do hereby declare the following to be'a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, sufficient to enable one skilled in the art towhich it appertains to use the same.

Myinvention consists in eoveringthe printed sheet with a transparentfilm, such as bankpaper or other fiber laid on in pulp or in sheet, orsuch other material capable of being placed thereon in solution or in asheet, the said covering serving toprotect the printed surface frombeing tampered with without such defacement as would expose it todetection.

WVhile not confining myself to the exact detail to be described in thisparagraph of my specification, I will state a certain mode of procedure,which is as follows: The engraved plate being filled with ink in theordinary manner, an impression is taken therefrom on unsized paper. Thesaid impression is then, in a vat, paper-machine, or otherwise, causedto take upon its faceafilm of sized pulp, which constitutes atransparent covering above the printed surface of the impression, andthe sheet is then dried. This surface protects the ink from the actionof acid or alkalies ordinarily used by counterfeiters in transferring animpression from the genuine note to the blank plate, and also preventsthe adhesion of the ink of the impression to the said plate.

It will be manifest to the expert thatit would be a hopeless task toattempt to make a tracing from a genuine note thus manufactured withsuch a nicety and precision as to make a reasonably-good counterfeit;and one object of the invention is to prevent the ink of the genuineimpression from being transferred to the plate of the 'eonnterfeiter byinterposing between them a film of fiber which shall be a bar to thesuccessful operation of the graver.

In thus covering the impression 011 unsized paper with a film of sizedpulp, which constitutes a new paper face upon the printed surface, thesize, penetrating the fibrous material of the backing on which the inkis laid, unites the two thicknesses of paper, and the ink is imprisonedbetween them, and cannotbereaehed without destroying the integrity ofone or the other of the paper surfaces, which on the onehand preservesitfrom being transferred by the counterfeiter and on the other handprevents tampering with the face of the note to change its value.

I do not confine myself to the use of unsized paper for taking animpression, nor to the treatment of the said impression with asize-pulp, because approximate results may be reached by taking theimpression on sized paperand by covering the impression with a sizedpulp, the two thicknesses of paper uniting with some degree ofcertainty; but I prefer to use the process I have detailed for reasonswhich will be made apparent.

A better impression can be taken on unsized than on sized paper, for thereason that the ink is incorporated with the fiber instead of lying uponthe sized surface, and the sized pulp is better than the unsized,because it penetrates the backing-paper and causes a close adhesion ofthe two paper surfaces.

By this mode of preparation of notes, 850., I am enabled to use colorswhich will not bear the ordinary handling of a note when exposed uponits surface.

Some colors which are bright and appropriate for bank-note ornamentationare so destructible as to prevent their use under theordinary process ofpreparation of banknotes.

By my process the impression in the expensive ink may be printed fromthe surface of the plates, the fugitive color being retained by theimposition of the film of paper over the impression. This surface colorwould, in

many cases, be speedily worn off were no protection afforded to it; and,as I said before, by my process I am enabled to use such ink and in suchmanner as could not be readily done by the ordinary preparation of noteswith the ink of the impression exposed upon the surface. 7

By this mode of preparation of notes I am enabled to prevent the notesfrom being photographed by the discharge of the inks in detail.

This invention is applicable to bank-notes, bonds, and other evidencesof value subject to be tampered with or counterfeited by means of actingupon the ink in one form or another. in the mode of preparingbank-notes, bonds, Having described my invention, what 1 &c., to preventcounterfeiting, I have signed claim therein as new, and desire to secureby my hand this 16th day of December, 1865. Letters Patent, is l GEO. T.JONES.

Covering the impression with a transparent Witnesses: film of paper orother fibrous material, sub- 0. D. SMITH, stantially as described. W. F.HALL.

To the above specification for improvement

